Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
I had the launch of Windows Vista marked on my calendar since before Christmas, and was counting down the days until its official release on January 30th. In the build up to the launch, Microsoft ran commercials on Japanese TV… 3 days to go! 2 days to go! So, when the 30th came around at midnight on Monday I went straight to some tech sites to see what new computers […]
My first five years in Japan were spent living in downtown Nagoya, among the skyscrapers, train stations and other concrete structures. Most parks were simply gravel areas for kids to run around on. Now, nearly ten years after coming to Japan, I’m living in what the Japanese would call ‘the countryside’. So I thought I’d post a few pictures from around my neighborhood. Bear in mind that by ‘countryside’, I […]
Across from where they are building the new shopping center is a four-storey department store for baby stuff. Although I’ve passed it everyday on the way to work for the past two years, I never realized just how great it was! I was kicking myself after spending loads on teaching toys at Toys-R-Us, when I could have got them here much cheaper! They’ve got everything from diapers, milk products, maternity […]
I’m really excited about the new shopping center they’re building on the other side of town. One thing I love about Japan is the convenience of everything, and when it comes to shopping, you can’t beat a shopping center. In all honesty, there’s nothing particularly different between modern shopping malls in Japan and the ones back home, but that won’t stop me welcoming the new Aeon Jusco into my little […]
The other day, Mami and I stopped off at our local supermarket to get some bread for my toasted sandwich maker, but ended up buying a whole trolley load of stuff. Fortunately, Japanese trolleys, or shopping carts if you prefer, are tiny. Anyway, stuck on the shelves were dozens of little red demons, called “Oni”. Apparently, they were there to celebrate Spring “Setsubun“, the start of Spring, which officially happens […]
Once in a while I post about my ambitions to earn a salary-sized income from my efforts on the internet. I have a few websites, mostly in education, which attract visitors from all over the world. The oldest of my current websites is the ESL Writing Wizard which I started in October 2005. Since then, I’ve gone on to make the Math Worksheet Wizard, Dolch-Words, and ESL-Kids. You can learn […]
It’s been four months now since Mami became pregnant and I’ve been posting each time she’s come back from the clinic with a new photo. If you missed the previous posts, here are the photos so far. It’s fascinating to see how ‘Peanut’ has grown. We started at six weeks with nothing visible except for a tiny nutrient bag.. Just one week later and we got to see Peanut for […]
Okay, so I didn’t win the “Nenmatsu Jumbo”, but as a teacher I get sent quite a lot of New Year cards from my students. These postcards, from the post office, are marked with a number which if you’re lucky could be picked as the winning number in the post office’s New Year lottery. Here’s some background on “Nengajou” from Wikipedia: The Japanese have a custom of sending New Year’s […]